New court documents released Thursday in Connecticut say Boston police investigators believe former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was the driver and gunman in a 2012 drive-by shooting that killed two men in Boston.

The documents also say that Boston homicide detectives suspect the silver Toyota 4Runner that Hernandez, 24, left at his uncle's home in Bristol, Conn., is the same sport utility vehicle that surveillance video footage shows circling a block in Boston's South End during the early morning hours of July 16, 2012.

Two independent witnesses said they heard six gunshots fired from the SUV at another vehicle that was stopped at a red light. After the shooting, witnesses said the SUV sped away from the scene. Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu, 31, and Safiro Teixeira Furtado, 30, both died from gunshot wounds.

Boston police believe the Toyota 4Runner — which a neighbor said Hernandez dropped off at his uncle's home in 2012 — may have gunshot residue, fingerprints and other evidence connecting it to the Boston shooting. Last year, police found the 4Runner at Hernandez's uncle's home. The vehicle was dusty, filled with cobwebs and its battery was dead. Witnesses said the SUV had been temporarily loaned to Hernandez, but he never returned the vehicle to a Providence car dealership, according to court records.

The new court documents, which were filed in a search warrant application for Hernandez's uncle's home and the SUV, do not say what the motive was for the double-homicide. Police reports only indicate that Hernandez, his alleged "right-hand man" Alexander Bradley, 31, and the two murder victims were inside Cure, a Boston nightclub, at the same time that night.

The information in the search warrant application, which was filed last June, is similar to that of another court filing released last week in Connecticut. However, in the affidavit released Thursday, police said they had probable cause to believe Hernandez "may have been the shooter" and that he "was operating the suspect vehicle used in the shooting homicides" in Boston. To date, Hernandez has not been charged in connection to those murders.

The affidavit also says police last summer were searching for a bag of clothes that Hernandez left in his uncle's house. Boston police said video surveillance shows that Hernandez, on the night of the Boston murder, wore a gray baseball hat with a red or orange brim, a gray T-shirt with a red, green and white design on the front, a pair of gray and white sneakers, a beaded necklace and a set of rosary beads with a round medallion and a cross.

While providing some new details of the Boston investigation, entire paragraphs in the documents released Thursday have been redacted. In one instance, a paragraph is erased just before a police detectives says what he believes Hernandez was doing at the time of the double-homicide.

The recent court documents out of Connecticut show Suffolk County authorities have been eyeing Hernandez since his arrest last summer in connection to Odin Lloyd's June 17 murder in a North Attleborough industrial park. Prosecutors say Hernandez orchestrated Lloyd's murder after a disagreement they had at a Boston nightclub two nights earlier.

The three defense lawyers representing Hernandez in his Bristol County murder case did not return messages seeking comment Thursday.

In other matters, Bristol County prosecutors have submitted their proposed version of a gag order to prohibit all parties from making prejudicial comments or leaking information about the case. Prosecutors said they would inform all investigators of their responsibility to abide by the order, as well as promising to investigate any alleged violations and reminding investigators of the potential penalties, which include being held in contempt of court.

To avoid negative publicity, prosecutors suggest that the court impound — hide from public view — alleged violations of the gag order until they are proven to have merit. The prosecution's proposed gag order, however, did not include a stipulation that prosecutors and investigators swear an oath that they have not previously leaked prejudicial information to the press. Hernandez's lawyers included that provision in their proposed gag order last week.

Bristol County Superior Court E. Susan Garsh will decide on the gag order at a later date. Hernandez, who is charged with murder and firearms offenses stemming from Odin Lloyd's homicide, is scheduled to appear Feb. 5 in Fall River Superior Court for a pretrial conference. He is being held without bail at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth.